The mastermind behind golf tourism to Mallorca has outlined his vision for the Balearic island, adding that each course is like ‘a child’ to him.
Federico Knuchel, a 76-year-old Swiss, moved to Mallorca more than 40 years ago, and never left.
He is now the president of the Asociación de Campos de Golf de Mallorca (ACGM), an association of 19 clubs on the largest of the Balearic Islands.
Knuchel said: “I feel very passionate about Mallorca – that’s why I still do it.
“I hate the thought of sitting back and doing nothing. It makes you get older more quickly. This keeps me young. It’s an honorary job and I’ve been in this role for six years. But golf has given a me a lot and you have to give something back.
“We had 600,000 rounds in 2015 and the purpose of our association is to increase that number. We would like to increase it by five per cent every year. Last year was one of the better years and generally, we are quite happy. But we always want more.”
Son Vida is the oldest club on Mallorca, dating back to 1964 but eight have been built since the millennium to create huge choice and variety. The island’s history with golf actually stretches back as far as 1934 when a nine-hole course in Alcudia was eventually shut down during the Spanish civil war for aircraft to use the fairways as runways.
“There are some top courses on the island but when we have meetings, I tell them that it is all about improving the quality. It is quality, quality, quality.
“Some courses have changed owners in recent times and they are investing a lot of money to improve them.
“As a Swiss, we are educated in quality and precision. That is our mentality.
“We have a great variety and great quality here and some people may not know about that. We have 19 courses and all within one hour of each other. People don’t want to play the same course on holiday and we have great choice.
“We have short flight times from all over Europe, great accommodation and of course, we always have the weather.”
